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Sunday, 7 July 2013

Fatphobia

We were talking yesterday about dressing "presentably" in public, specifically when it comes to people who are overweight. We see two sides to the argument:

1) On the one hand, not everyone looks attractive in skin-tight or cropped clothes.

2) On the other, who's to say or has the right to judge what is attractive? Why is there an expectation to look a certain way, especially for women?

The main point of our discussion was, is it oppressive or shaming to expect a woman who is overweight not to wear clothes that are "too revealing"? Is that fatphobic?

While clothing may not be the most flattering on her, we also have to remember that there's alot of pressure for a woman to show skin, that somehow this makes her more "sexy". So while she sucumbs to the pressure we might look at her and think, why do you need to do all that to look good? Clothes are also designed for a very specific body type and if you dont fit that "standard" look, it makes it very difficult for you to find flattering clothing.

We don't have all the answers, but what we did agree on was that we feel there's a difference between commenting on what someone wears vs commenting on their body itself. In other words, we may see someone out in public and feel what she's wearing isn't the best for her figure, while still not criticizing her physically. Every body type is beautiful, very few people can measure up to the standard that the media tells us is attractive and that we should strive towards. It's a falsehood.

So we'll throw the question out to you, the readers: What do you think? Is it shaming a woman to comment on clothing we feel doesn't flatter her?